Excuse me, the text written under "zubrids" is one thing, mastering the text is another – Nikol Pashinyan

The Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, visited the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports on January 4 to discuss the agency's activities in 2023.

It was noted that in the framework of the professional development and encouragement of teachers, the voluntary certification of teachers continued. In 2023, approximately 4,200 teachers participated in the voluntary certification process. In total, over three years of implementing the process, 3,830 teachers have been certified, receiving a salary increase of 200,000 drams, and depending on their performance results, they receive an additional payment of 30-50%.

For the first time, voluntary certification for extracurricular educators was also conducted, resulting in 44 certified specialists receiving an additional payment.

Discussing the importance of the certification process, the Prime Minister stated: "The depth of knowledge and content is very important. Excuse me, the text written under 'zubrids' is one thing, mastering the text is another. What is the problem? Do you understand? When people in the education sector say, 'You know what, let me answer these 3 questions,' the other 50 questions have nothing to do with the topic, it may be correct, but there is something that causes discomfort for us, because we want to know the depth of knowledge. We do it for the students. There are students, we hope that there will be more students who are not within that framework, they perceive things and ask such questions. I think it is a great tragedy and a significant demotivation for a student if they ask a teacher a question and understand that the teacher has no idea about the question being asked. No one can know everything, but there needs to be mental work during the class, and one must also know how to relate to what they do not know. And here lies the issue of the depth of knowledge."

Minister Zhanna Andreasian mentioned that she previously thought that no teachers from the primary classes would disengage from test-based work: "The fact showed that no, there are teachers from grades 1-4 who are disengaged. You think about what questions should be asked about the subject curriculum that would be challenging for the teacher to answer." In response, the Prime Minister added, "Do you understand what that means? Our elementary school teacher is disengaged from certification. My concern is not the teacher, nor is it the disengagement; my concern is the child. What are we doing, what impact are we having on the future of the child with such irresponsibility?"

According to the Minister, the fact remains that voluntary certification diagnoses the issues related to teachers, even if it is not liked. Zhanna Andreasian stated that the resistance to participating in the certification process is also conditioned by this.